Question about agency holiday pay please?

SendingFailed

I wondered if anyone knew the answer to this, I've searched online re agency employment rights etc, but couldn't find anything that covered it?

At the beginning of this year I started a temp to perm job through an agency, which was supposed to be permanent after 3 months. In the end I was made permanent with the employer after 8 months. But during all that time, I accrued holiday pay via the agency by them taking money off me per hour. As I haven't taken any holidays at all in the 8 months, I'm due a lump some back in about a week's time after requesting my P45.

My question is, does anybody know if it is legal for agencies to do this for all this time? I enquired with someone who was quite clued up about this sort of thing and they seemed to think that under UK employment law they can only legally do this for so many weeks? Any info would be appreciated thanks...

sweetstudent

When i temped, my holiday pay was actually given to me when i took holiday - unlike some agencies who give it with your hourly rate! When i was made permanant, what i had owed to me was given to me with my last pay!

MrC_Beds

Must admit, I've never heard of agencies taking money off a temp worker's pay for holiday - normally they would add a supplement on to the hourly rate to cover holidays, or accrue holiday hours in a pot, for the worker to take as and when he or she has worked enough hours.

Temps are entitled to the legal minimum holiday entitlement of 28 days, based upon the actual number of hours worked per week.

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Employment/Employees/Timeoffandholidays/DG_10034642

Littlegreelady

I worked for an agency and we didn't take money off your hourly pay. Under the current law any temporary worker automatically acrues holiday, as per MrC_Beds. You are entitled to your holiday pay anyway, you shouldn't have to pay for it?

Can I ask if it's Pertemps or Extra Personnel? Because I think they have some wierd scheme where they take money off you and you can claim things like travel and food expsenses back, so it might be something like that.

SendingFailed

Thanks for the replies - no Littlegreelady, it's not Pertemps. But you guys are kind of right in the sense that is IS kept in a pot for when the assignment was over (which should have been 3 months maximum), the agency never mentioned what would happen after that, but they have informed me I will get it all back. I just wondered if they were legally allowed to do it for so long that's all.

LittleVoice

What they have done is quote you a rate of, let's say, £10.10 but then said that takes holidays into account and we can't pay you for holidays until you take them or leave. So we take off the proportion of your pay which actually was holiday pay (say a little over 10%) and that goes into the pot from which your holiday is paid.

Initially that makes you think you are receiving a higher rate of pay than you are because, in the above example, your actual rate of pay would be £(10.10-1.10) = £9 per hour. They are obliged to pay you statutory holiday so they shouldn't include it in the rate to start with.

They can certainly hold the holiday funds for as long as they like until you leave. Because you have left within a year of starting (and therefore almost certainly you have a holiday year with them which started when you began the assignment), there is no problem with your getting hold of the money. However, if you had in fact worked for them for more than a year and not claimed the holiday pay (even if you took holiday - eg bank holidays) then they could keep the unclaimed holiday pay for that year and the pot would start growing from zero again.

toadyfrog

Sorry to jump in your thread but......

The OH started with an agency the end of March temp to perm. He contract says that he gets 28 days holiday (incl bank holidays). Every bank holiday he has asked for ite to be taken out of his holidays but he has never been paid for them. He also took 2 days holiday which he wasn't paid for. When he asked the agency they said he hadn't earned holidays yet. Never having worked for an agency before we're not sure if this is correct on not. Any advice please.

LittleVoice

toadyfrog wrote: »

Sorry to jump in your thread but......

The OH started with an agency the end of March temp to perm. He contract says that he gets 28 days holiday (incl bank holidays). Every bank holiday he has asked for ite to be taken out of his holidays but he has never been paid for them. He also took 2 days holiday which he wasn't paid for. When he asked the agency they said he hadn't earned holidays yet. Never having worked for an agency before we're not sure if this is correct on not. Any advice please.

He wouldn't have accrued much holiday in time for the Easter Holiday but if he is working every week then he would certainly have earned enough to be paid for the August bank holiday and probably the other 2 days.

He should ask them how they are working out the holidays he is accruing. If the agency is a member of the REC then they should follow fairly standard process to work it out.

If he has proof of having asked for the holiday he has taken, then he should repeat the request. If he only asked orally and therefore has no proof that he asked to be paid, then they may get away with saying they will only pay for the holiday he takes in the future.

You also need to get their terms regarding holidays - they should have provided these when he began temping. Make sure the holiday year starts when the first assignment starts and not some fixed holiday year. (If it is a fixed holiday year, make sure that all holiday accrued by the year end is taken - even if it means taking a day off when he doesn't particularly want to.)

SendingFailed

Toadyfrog, it's no problem at all, sounds like we all need some kind of help!

Thanks for your post LittleVoice, that does seem to make a bit of sense.

liney

SendingFailed wrote: »

Thanks for the replies - no Littlegreelady, it's not Pertemps. But you guys are kind of right in the sense that is IS kept in a pot for when the assignment was over (which should have been 3 months maximum), the agency never mentioned what would happen after that, but they have informed me I will get it all back. I just wondered if they were legally allowed to do it for so long that's all.

Why on earth would they not be able to do this? if you worked for a company on a permanent basis there would be nothing stopping you working until September without booking leave, then taking 2 weeks in September, and the remainder in November. As long as you have a rest period of 5.6 weeks during the year, which months you take the break in do not matter.

If you wanted you holiday pay sooner, then you would have actually had to book holiday and be absent from work as you are not allowed to be paid, and work at the same time: that would mean you were not getting the minimum rest period of 5.6 weeks per year.

In short you accrued holidays, that you haven't taken so the company have said they will pay you for them instead when you leave them, yet you are looking for a problem I just don't know what you are trying to achieve.

Thriftysaver

My hubby works like this. He has a % per week taken from his wages and then he collects it when he takes a week off. He is paid above average wage, and as he works in different places everyday, can also claim his mileage. The amount that was taken each week will be on your wage slip. Although I wouldn't be happy if they were taking hol pay from a minimum wage. HTH

Thriftysaver

HTH